Decompressing

 WE'VE

 BEEN

 BUSY!!!!

 

The girls were here for a four day stay without mommy and daddy and we were quite literally running the whole time.  We went to the city beach a couple of times, to our beach once,  to the ice cream parlor twice, shopping,  had hair cuts, took walks around the neighborhood, visited neighbors as we walked,  picked flowers, played in the wading pool,  made string art and stick art and made brownies,  and ate more Oreos than we're going to tell mommy about,  and read books and books and books and by Monday even they were tired.

To decompress after they left Monday night, and after every nerve ending in my body stopped screaming from fatigue, I picked up a block I'm doing for our exchange at October's retreat.  This is a work in progress and I'm truly making it up as I go along but I felt like I had to show something creative! Something slow and methodical.  Something!   

A week's worth

I went to the farmer's market this morning.  I didn't buy many veggies, the other things were far more interesting!  There was a man milling oatmeal right there for you, freshly milled into your own bag.  Now, I'm not real good at eating what I SHOULD, but I'm really great at eating what I WANT, so if I'm going to have oatmeal, it's going to have to be in the form of a cookie.

 

I follow a standard oatmeal cookie recipe but add chocolate chips and nuts - today that meant pecans, and coconut.  You don't taste the coconut but it gives a nice body to the cookie.  No raisins.  Just the good stuff.  Now, I could sit here all afternoon eating these so I'll share with a couple of neighbors.

 

 

 It's been a month since I've done anything with fabric, but last night I sat down with the 12.5 inch square project for our retreat in October.    I'm working on this applique.....

 thinking of how to fussy cut this one......

 and wondering what to do with these.....

 I've joined with a penpal friend in Germany and we've formed a round robin of her friends and mine.  There are eight of us that will share in this and we're all very excited.  I'm auditioning the fabric for my center.  We'll each do a center of 12 to 14 (or so) inches and we will mail them out in January along with a journal we will keep for each other.   Elke and I will be the mailers.  I will send them all to her and vice versa.   Then, we'll form two groups of four and take one year to add borders.   We're loose, we want to be creative but will have at least two borders assigned.   I'm excited!   I have the pattern I want to do but I believe I might be breaking some sort of copyright if I took a photo and sent it this way.  Once I get working on it I'll be safer.

 The girls came this week for their first overnight of the summer and that had to include strawberry picking. They love it, even if Adelaide doesn't eat them, she likes to pick them.

Everyone got in on the act, including Adelaide's BunBun.  Notice the Band-Aid on his paw. 

 

It was a great day, but unfortunately, our power was knocked out during a storm the night before, so after picking they continued on home.  When we lose our power we lose everything.  Water, lights, toilet, fridge, stove, the works.  I went back home and packed a bag to follow them to their house for the duration.  Lucky for the food in my fridge, power was back on by 7 p.m. and I could return home.

 

Strawberry Fields Forever

 This is what brings a smile to my face.  The first day of strawberry picking. The first fruit of summer. The first warm nice day outing that gives us such a big reward for such little effort. The first bite into a real strawberry, a berry that juices down your chin, a berry that you can smell, a berry that hasn't travelled thousands of miles is like nothing else.

 Patient Husband and I picked on Saturday morning, just enough for a pie for that night.  We went back Sunday for enough for another pie, some freezer jam (which I haven't made in maybe 10 years) and some strawberry ice cream.  

I say this pie is the reason God made strawberries.  

It's been weeks since I picked up a piece of needlework.  I'm very jealous of the beautiful things I'm seeing in blogland but I just haven't had the chance to get to it.  In a few more days.....

Toys!

This message brought to you from my new iPad!  This is significant since I do not even own a cell phone.  I guess I could be considered a dinosaur.  But this is a very fun toy!  I think I will get the hang of it soon as Adelaide gets here to show me what to do.  She is 3.

A new day!

Well, it's as official as it gets.  As of last Friday,  I am fully retired.  Wow.  Please don't ask me what I'm going to do!  Why do we ask people who are planning to retire what they are going to do now?  I'm guilty as the next person and now the shoe is on the other foot I can see why that 'look' was in the eyes.   For the immediate future, summer will be the same as it's always been.  I don't think I will notice till about mid-August when I'll realize the calendar won't matter.  I won't be thinking "oh, man...just two more weeks of vacation."  "Oh, no!  Only one week before school  and the 6 a.m. wake up starts...."    My list includes quilts to make, books to read, trees to trim, trips to the city to see my mom,  and of course, naps-naps-naps-naps.  Other than that....no plans.  Sometimes no plans are the best plans.
   I DID just order my iPad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My survival prize I've been saving for two years for!!!